DePaul University bestowed the St. Vincent de Paul Award on Sept. 23 to three leaders who have distinguished themselves while serving disparate communities of need around the world: Muhammad Yunus, Sister Carol Keehan, D.C. and Monsignor Michael Boland.

Yunus is the Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist who founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the pioneer of “microfinance” in which small, low-or-no-cost loans are made to people living in extreme poverty to help them fund small business enterprises. In the decades since its founding, Grameen has been extraordinarily successful in helping millions of clients escape poverty and its business model has been replicated in scores of other impoverished nations around the world.

Keehan is president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association (CHA) of the United States, an association of health systems, hospitals and health care facilities through which one of every six Americans receives health care. Named as the single most influential person in American health care in 2007 by Modern Healthcare magazine, she is the first woman, the first former hospital administrator and the first former bedside nurse to lead the Top 100 list.

Boland is president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and under his leadership, Catholic Charities has continued and expanded its 90-year commitment to caring for people living in poverty and those in need of social services in Cook and Lake counties. The organization currently operates 159 programs from 156 locations, coordinating them through regional offices throughout the metropolitan area. Boland directs a staff of more than 2,500 employees and 11,000 volunteers, and partners with more than 100 parishes to bring services to every community in the archdiocese. In recent years, demand for Catholic Charities’ services has increased due to the economic downturn.

“Each of this year’s recipients exemplifies the commitment to the less fortunate members of society that was the hallmark of the work of St. Vincent de Paul,” said Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul University. “With growing social and economic needs at the local, national and international levels, the world increasingly must have effective leaders to confront these challenges. These three extraordinary individuals embody our university’s highest ideals and the ideals of our namesake St. Vincent de Paul.”

About the St. Vincent de Paul Award

The St. Vincent de Paul Award, the university’s highest honor, is conferred on very special occasions to persons exemplifying the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul by serving God through the needs of humanity. St. Vincent, the 17th century French saint known as “the Apostle of Charity,” is the university’s patron. There have previously been 26 recipients of the award since 1965.  Past honorees have included civic leaders such as philanthropist Arthur J. Schmitt, former Sears Roebuck and Co. Chairman Edward Brennan and the late Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley; singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson; leaders in Catholic charitable and social justice organizations, such as Monsignors Vincent W. Cooke and John J. Egan; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Lech Walesa and Oscar Arias Sanchez.

About DePaul University

DePaul is the largest private university in Illinois and the largest Catholic university in the United States. The university enrolls a richly diverse population of more than 25,000 students who take classes on two city and six suburban campuses. DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers (the Congregation of the Mission), a Roman Catholic religious community that continues the mission and values of Vincent de Paul. The university emphasizes academic excellence, service to the community, access to education and respect for the individual.